Players and coaches will seldom assign greater significance to one play or one game than another. If for no other reason, it implies somehow that ones not mentioned are somehow less important.

So for Jimmy Clausen, theoretically this is just another preseason, the fifth since he was the No. 2 pick of the Carolina Panthers in 2010. But it really isn’t.

Clausen was on the shelf after losing 2013 to injury and the NFL is nothing if not out of sight, out of mind. So Friday night against the Philadelphia Eagles is not only the next major step in his competition with Jordan Palmer for the No. 2 quarterback job in Chicago, but a potential referendum on Clausen for others who will be watching.

“Every day’s a job interview whether it’s on the practice field here for the Chicago Bears or going out in preseason games for 31 other teams,” Clausen said. “It’s a job interview each and every day and that’s how you have to approach it.”

So far Clausen has “interviewed” well. He started well after Palmer and even after rookie David Fales in the Bears system, signing late into the minicamp/OTA cycle. He has played himself squarely into position to win a job that had appeared all but in the hands of Palmer.